effect on

Africa

When considered in detail, the movement of air masses and their effects provide the basis for a division of the continent into eight climatic regions. These are the hot desert, semiarid, tropical wet-and-dry, equatorial (tropical wet), Mediterranean, humid subtropical marine, warm temperate upland, and mountain regions.

alluvial fans

...a wide range of climatic conditions and have been studied in the Canadian Arctic, Swedish Lappland, Japan, the Alps, the Himalayas, and other areas. They tend to be larger and more prominent in arid and semiarid regions, however, and generally are regarded as characteristic desert landforms. This is particularly true in the basin-and-range type of areas of parts of Iran, Afghanistan,...

animals

Desert animals typically have skin that is relatively impervious to water. The major site of evaporation is the respiratory exchange surface, which must be moist to allow the gaseous exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. A reduction in amount of water lost through respiration can occur if the temperature of the exhaled air is lower than the temperature of the body. As many animals, such as...

South America

Warm and cold deserts and certain coastal and interior regions are classified as arid climates. Patagonia and northwestern Argentina constitute the largest of the interior arid regions. Rainfall is low, only about 4 inches (100 mm) in San Juan in the north and about 7 inches (180 mm) farther south in Neuquén. The annual range in average monthly temperatures in Patagonia—the...

tropical and subtropical desert climate

...anticyclone (or subtropical high), with its descending air, elevated inversions, and clear skies. Such an atmospheric environment inhibits precipitation. Most of Earth’s tropical, true desert (BW) climates occur between 15° and 30° latitude, at the poleward end of the Hadley cell circulation. In the Köppen-Geiger-Pohl system, this...